Nijinsky: A Life

Nijinsky: A Life

His sister hadn’t seen him for seven years. She had been trapped in
Kiev during the war that followed the Russian Revolution. Eventually,
in 1921, she managed to escape with her elderly mother and two small
children and made her way to Vienna.

When we entered his room Vaslav was sitting in an armchair; he did
not get up to greet us. Mother rushed to embrace him, but Vaslav
showed no emotional reaction on seeing his mother. He remained
withdrawn into himself, also when I embraced him. Throughout our
visit in his room he had an absent look, staring into space and not
uttering a word.